


(Coupon) Book of Love

by DrChickenSlinger



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff, GaaLee, LeeGaa, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-07 10:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19083082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrChickenSlinger/pseuds/DrChickenSlinger
Summary: Lee does his best to make it easier for Gaara to ask for the love he needs, but doesn’t know how to articulate.





	(Coupon) Book of Love

**Author's Note:**

> ManaBanana and I were talking (as we do, because they’re fantastic) and I got this idea! Not sure why, but here it is! PLEASE check out their fics. If you’re reading mine and not theirs, who even are you?
> 
> Enjoy! Happy Pride month!

“It’s a what?”

“A coupon book!”

Gaara looked down at the small pad of green paper. On the front it read “Gaara’s Love Coupons!!!” It was covered in hearts and smiley faces, and turtle doodles, of course.

“Lee, you know I have a considerable fund from running the village. Why do we need coupons?”

Lee laughed brightly. “It’s not for buying things, silly! Look inside!”

Gaara looked at Lee skeptically, but did as he asked. He flicked halfway through the book settling on a page that read:

“One free forehead smooch!!!”

Gaara glanced up at Lee, his brow furrowed. 

“I don’t normally pay for these.”

Lee’s smile faltered slightly, but it picked back up as he gently grabbed the book from Gaara. 

“I know, and you still do not have to! I know you struggle to ask for affection at times and I want to help you with that as best as I can!”

Seeing that Gaara was still confused, Lee ripped out the paper and held it up to him. 

“Look! This means you want a forehead kiss!”

Lee leaned over, gently cupping Gaara’s cheeks with his hands. He placed a gentle kiss to his forehead, pulling back slightly before kissing him again. 

“See? I will be happy to oblige each time! But, of course, this one does not count as using the coupon.”

Lee gently slipped the paper back into the little book and handed it back to Gaara. 

“You do not have to use them if you do not want to,” Lee said, his eyebrows furrowing slightly, “but I wanted it to be easier for you to ask until you are more comfortable asking for what you need.”

Gaara slipped the small book into the pocket of his large kazekage robes. “Thank you, Lee. This was very thoughtful of you.”

Lee beamed and pulled Gaara in for a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around his back gently, reciprocating the affection. Lee was always so proactive with his love and Gaara was unsure if he would even need to use the little slips of paper. 

A week later, Gaara had a particularly difficult day. The rest of the council members decided that they would be as argumentative as possible. By the end of his meeting, his chest was tight and he had a migraine. All he wanted to do was use his sand jutsu to quickly go home and see Lee. He slipped into his office, not wanting to be stopped by another infuriating councilman, and did just that. He appeared in the middle of their living room to Lee’s delight. With an excited gasp, he swept Gaara up into his arms, kissing as much of his face as he could reach. Though he was happy to see Lee, the sudden jostling didn’t help his headache. 

“How was your day?” Lee asked, finally settling into the crook of Gaara’s neck. 

“It was long. And exhausting,” Gaara replied. He wanted Lee to keep holding him, but the way he was doing it was hurting his head. He wasn’t sure how to explain that to Lee, so he opted to just be set down. Lee turned to continue cleaning the kitchen. Gaara’s arms hung at his sides slightly defeated. Something pointy poked at his arm through his robes. He rifled into the large folds that were concealing the pockets, and pulled out the coupon book, forgetting that he had placed it there the week prior. He glanced up at Lee’s turned back, and flipped through it once again. Perhaps he could find something that would help him express what he wanted Lee to do. 

As Lee wiped down the counter, he heard a small rip from behind him. He turned to look at Gaara, making sure that all was well. Gaara handed him a small slip of green paper, one he quickly recognized as being part of his lovingly made coupon book. He smiled at Gaara and took the paper which read:

“Head scratches!!!”

Lee smiled at Gaara, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. He quickly wiped them away, knowing that Gaara needed him right now. He didn’t have time to be emotional. Lee placed the paper on the counter and picked Gaara up with ease, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek. 

“I didn’t give you a coupon for that,” Gaara said, smiling at Lee. 

“Consider it a package deal!”

Lee carried Gaara up into their room, laying him back against his chest on the bed. He unwrapped his bandages, wanting it to be as comfortable of an experience for Gaara as possible. His strong fingers gently carded themselves through Gaara’s hair. He would occasionally allow his nails to drag across the surface of Gaara’s scalp causing him to shiver. He sighed gently, the tension of the day finally easing as Lee took the time to lovingly play with his hair. 

“Tell me about your day, sweetheart,” Lee said gently, craning his neck to place a kiss on Gaara’s closed eyelid. 

“The council members must have not eaten their oatmeal this morning. They were very argumentative. It gave me a massive headache.”

Lee laughed lightly and moved his hands further down Gaara’s head. He found the small dips in his skull and began to rub his temples, gently massaging them in an effort to further ease Gaara’s pain. He sighed again, his migraine continuing to settle. Lee moved between lightly scratching his head, running his hands through Gaara’s dark red hair, and massaging the sides of his head. After almost half an hour, Gaara was completely at ease and the pain was all but gone. He turned in Lee’s lap, sitting up to place a small kiss on his lips, before leaning his head back onto his chest. 

“I’m glad you told me about your headache.”

“Why?” Gaara asked, sitting back up to look at Lee. 

“So that I could help! Temple massages are one of the best ways to calm down a particularly stubborn migraine, especially if someone else is doing it. I am so glad that the coupon book came in handy!” Lee beamed at Gaara, very pleased that his gift had worked, even if Gaara only used it this one time. 

Much to his delight, though, Gaara began to use them fairly often. 

After a long kage meeting, Lee was presented the slip requesting snuggles and a nap. A slip requesting a tight hug came after a particularly distressing therapy session. Lee smiled when he was given a slip of paper in Gaara’s own handwriting requesting a shoulder rub. He was getting the hang of it!

Over the next few weeks, they were more physically affectionate than they had ever been, a majority of it at Gaara’s request. Lee was so happy to see it had worked, but also sad knowing that Gaara had wanted this all along. How many nights had he gone to sleep sad, not being able to ask for a tight hug? How much pain could Lee have helped heal, but didn’t know was present? He tried to brush these thoughts out of his head each time they produced tears at the corners of his eyes. Focusing on the past wouldn’t help them now. All he could do was hope for a future where Gaara was more comfortable asking for what he needed. 

As time continued to pass, Gaara found that he had ran out of coupons. He made do with his own, ripping small requests off of his Kazekage stationary, but he arrived home one night having forgotten to write his request. 

“Lee,” he began timidly, stepping up behind him as he made dinner.

“Yes?”

“Can we… can we cuddle on the couch after dinner?”

Lee turned to him, reaching his hand out to squeeze Gaara’s. 

“Of course, love.”

And they did just that. 

Eventually, not only did Gaara just ask for different things, he also began initiating them more often. When he came home from work, he would pull Lee gently down to kiss him, rather than wait for Lee to come to him. One night, he returned with a kiss for Lee’s cheek and a pad of paper in his hand, not too unlike the one Lee had given him only weeks later. 

“It’s a coupon book,” Gaara said, repeating what Lee had told him. 

“A what? But why? I ask for hugs and kisses all the time!”

“That’s true,” Gaara said, taking the book back from him and flipping it open. “but you do not ask for other things.”

He handed Lee the book back, the page reading “one hour of training.” He continued flipping through, catching different offers such as Gaara cooking dinner, coming home early from work, having lunch together at his office, and more requests for spending time together. Lee cried freely, touched at Gaara’s understanding of his needs and desire to spend time with him, even though he couldn’t accurately express it himself. 

“Thank you, Gaara,” he whispered, scooping him into his arms and holding him tight. Gaara pulled back and stared into Lee’s eyes. 

“Thank you, Lee. Thank you for being patient enough to love me the way I needed to be loved, even if I wasn’t aware of it.”

Lee nuzzled himself into Gaara’s neck. “I will always be aware.”


End file.
